Camping

Golite Jam 2

/ Camping, Outdoor Gear, Walking / , , ,

My new lightweight rucksack came yesterday – I was working last night but I did have a chance to throw a few things in and play around with some packing options.

I got my one man tent in the front pocket with room to spare and my inflating sleep mat in the main compartment without any problem. Getting the mat inside was important to me as when I had it strapped to the top of the previous pack it made the pack very awkward when making my way through overgrown areas.

When I put on the pack it felt very comfortable. The hip belt pockets were a little difficult to use but I am sure with use the zippers will loosen a little and I will get used to them. I could reach the drinks bottle reasonably easily.

Golite Jam 2
Golite Jam 2

In my Karrimor pack I had a foam back pad that included two flexible aluminium strips embedded in it, which gave the soft pack some rigidity which I found useful – I have inserted this into the pad pocket on the Golite. It makes it easier to pack as it gives the bag some structure and I also think it will protect my back from the load and the water bladder and help transfer some of the weight to the hip belt. There is a weight penalty for this stiff pad – 165gms – which I feel is a bargain if it makes my walking more comfortable.

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Peach Tea

/ Camping, Outdoor Gear, Walking / , , , , ,

Whilst shopping in Lidl we came across this instant fruit tea.

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I am always looking for things to add to the brew kit and peach tea sounded good. Back at the campsite we tried it and both of us liked it, Jeremy especially like the idea that it could be added to cold water.

The instructions said use five tea spoons (20g) we used two heaped mini sporks in a mug and that was fine.

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I packed about six mugs worth in this 100ml nalgene bottle (I’ll weigh it when I get home).

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Found! WiFi in Dingwall

/ Camping, General, Technology, Travel / , , , ,

Since arriving at Dingwall campsite, last weekend we have been thinking about finding a WiFi cafe – there was not an obvious one in Dingwall and we went to a cafe in Ullapool where we got WiFi last year but they no longer offered a free connection. It is not so important as I have a really good 3G data deal from T-Mobile but WiFi mean’s catching up on some TV via BBC iPlayer and JSC wanted to FaceBook with his friends.

The Camping and Caravan Club sites have WiFi but when I looked into this in the past it was not very good value, especially when compared to my data bundle.

I went into Dingwall this afternoon and after buying some award winning black pudding from the local butchers I went to Grants Café Deli, in the High Street, where I got a cappuccino and they had a free 30 minutes of WiFi – however it was a BT Openzone access point, so I logged on using my account and had nearly an hour online. I watched Click, edited the blog, logged into a client’s server to check a problem out and updated eight apps on my iPhone.

The opening times at Grants are good; Mon to Wed 9am – 6pm, Thurs to Sat 9am – 8pm and Sun 10am – 4pm, as many Dingwall cafes stop serving at 4pm.

I got back to the site and put my iPhone in flight mode to charge it in the car, whilst we cooked and ate our award winning black pudding – which also got our seal of approval! After tea I got my phone out to update the blog and when I turned it on, the WiFi was still enabled and I have discovered there is a BT Openzone access point within range of us here – and I am now wondering if this is also part of the C and CC Site WiFi which means there would have been WiFi at Dunbar as well! I just never thought to check or ask because of previous costs and my current 3G deal. I will check in future.

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